Tom yum goong

Ingredients

• Prawns — heads on, keep the shells400 g
• Water or stock1 l
• Lemongrass — bruised and cut2
• Galangal5 slice
• Kaffir lime leaves5
• Mushrooms200 g
• Chillies3
• Fish sauce3 tbsp
• Lime juice3 tbsp
• Palm sugar1 tsp
• Corianderto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Peel the prawns, leaving the tails on. Keep the shells and heads: the broth is built on them.

   8 min

2. 2

   Fry the shells in the pot for a couple of minutes until bright orange, cover with the water and simmer fifteen minutes. Strain.

   17 min

3. 3

   Return the broth to the heat, add the lemongrass, galangal and lime leaves and let them steep at a low simmer for five minutes.

   5 min

4. 4

   Add the mushrooms and the crushed chillies, then after two minutes the prawns. They are done the moment they curl into a C — beyond that they turn rubbery.

   4 min

5. 5

   Take the pot off the heat. Add the fish sauce, lime juice and sugar, stir and taste. Adjust a spoon at a time until sour, salty and hot sit where you want them.

   2 min

6. 6

   Ladle into bowls and scatter over the coriander. Leave the lemongrass and galangal in the pot, or warn people not to eat them.

   1 min

About the dish

Tom yum has no fixed proportions for the seasoning. Lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime leaves give the broth its scent, while fish sauce, lime juice and palm sugar go in right at the end and get tasted until sour, salty and hot line up.

The aromatics are not eaten: the lemongrass stalks and slices of galangal are lifted out or left in the bowl. Lime juice always goes in off the heat, because heating it turns it bitter.

Worth knowing

• — Galangal and ginger are not the same thing. Ginger brings a hot bite instead of a resinous scent, and the soup ends up different.
• — For the creamy nam khon version, stir in a spoon of chilli paste in oil and a little evaporated milk at the end.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

190 kcal

Protein

24 g

Fat

4 g

Carbs

12 g

Useful for this recipe

• Cooking time calculator: how long to cook in the oven
• Recipe scaler: adjust ingredients for more or fewer servings
• Calories and macros calculator for meals and recipes